If your candidate doesn't win...

in

(Subscribers to my weekly newsletter received this essay in an e-mail, in addition to other goodies. Subscribe so you don’t miss a thing!)

Since the start of early voting, more than a 75 million people have gone to the polls. A Brookings Institution study predicts that the 2020 election will see the largest voter turnout since 1908. All that to say, it's very obvious (if you're alive and breathing) that people care deeply about the outcome of this election. They care deeply. And they're going to be pissed if their candidate loses.

Feel your feelings. But we must remember that one of the great successes of the American experiment is the peaceful transition of power. This idea is captured brilliantly in two back-to-back songs from Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. In "One Last Time," George Washington chooses to step down after two terms as President. (And honestly, just go listen to it, it's worth it.) Next, King George steps on stage in total disbelief. He begins his final song:

"They say, George Washington's yielding his power and stepping away
Is that true? I wasn't aware that was something a person could do...
I'm perplexed, are they going to keep replacing whoever's in charge?
If so, who's next? There's nobody else in their country who looms quite as large."


I keep thinking about this song. Part of what has made America so strong in its short time span is our ability as a nation to coexist with people who think, look, believe, act, and profess differently from us. Diversity is our calling card, it's our brand, it's what makes us be able to look at the rest of the world and say — look! IT IS possible to disagree and still get along. The test of your morality, your spirituality, isn’t who you vote for, it’s how you treat the people who don’t vote like you.

I keep thinking about this song, because there are forces at work trying to get us to believe that a peaceful transition of power is no longer possible. As if small businesses haven't taken a big enough hit already, Police Departments in many major cities are telling business owners to prepare for election protests, protests that could potentially get violent. I recently had a friend tell me to stock up on food supplies in case violence breaks out the day after the election. NPR has been running stories about militant groups on the far right, while Fox News has been running continuous coverage of riots happening in Philadelphia and stoking conservative fears of the "woke mob."

And all I want to do is to scream: CAN EVERYONE JUST Calm. Down.

I think we can all agree that this has been a pretty terrible year, with difficult weeks and months ahead. The election will be over in a matter of hours. I don’t care about who you voted for. What I care about now, is what kind of loser are you?

Are you a loser who can hold your head high, and shake your opponents hand at the end of a game? Or are you like Isiah Thomas, who famously snubbed Michael Jordan at the end of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, simply out of spite? Because how you lose matters just as much as how you win.

We must remain committed to the peaceful transition of power. Even if that means Biden takes over your beloved White House. Even if that means Trump gets four more years to run this circus known as American politics. Guess what? It's our circus. And for the sake of our country's future, we must let the results stand.

Let's just hope the end of King George's song wasn't prophesy.

"Oceans rise, empires fall,
next to Washington they all look small.
All alone, watch them run,
they will tear each other into pieces
Jesus Christ this will be fun."

Sources: